Off to Arizona

Click on any picture to enlarge

On August 27, 2005 Joey began his big adventure, accompanied by his faithful companion . . .

His 1960 Chevy Apache

Could there be a more appropriate vehicle for venturing into the Southwest?

But first a stop over in Illinois before making the BIG trip

Time to take care those few last minute items -- You know, those important things . . .

Like installing new stereos -- A boy must have his tunes for the road after all

And of course tuning up that truck

None of us needed him breakdown in the middle of nowhere after all

Time for one more bike ride (that's Gordon's bike -- not his)

And a visit with good friends

And to catch a few more fish

And a few more Midwestern sunsets

And spend time with his most faithful of companions

And thanks to Mom,

He even got to catch a Joliet Jackhammer's baseball game

And he checked in on some other friends to see what they've been up to.

Seems everyone's been building

But September 7th came quickly, and as everything was packed and ready to go

Once quick last glance at the odometer gave us some foreboding

This better not be an omen!

Because down the road he went 12:15 PM, September 7, 2005, he hit the road bound for Arizona

His first stop was actually in Missouri

But the first picture we have is on the 8th when he stopped at the world's largest McDonald's somewhere in Oklahoma

He evidentially thought this was important enough to take two pictures

By the 9th he was already in Texas

Here we see him entering the big town of Shamrock, TX

Which was immediately followed by another appropriately Irish named town

To my girlfriend Cindy, if you can read that, welcome to Mclean Texas, right next to Shamrock!

And maybe he was just saying his prayers -- This is Groom, TX

By the end of the day on the 9th, we find him entering into New Mexico

On September 10th we find him still in New Mexico, passing this old Route 66 bridge

Continuing through New Mexico on the 10th

The black that you see to the right, off of the road, is actually lava as he's entering the Lava Flats in New Mexico

And the next few pictures were taken from along the Lava Flats on Route 117 and I40

I think by the end of the day by on the 10th he was getting a bit road weary

These little self portraits of portraits of himself show either that

Or he's just getting a little giddy as he's getting closer to his final destination

These next few pictures were taken from I40 heading into Quameda, NM

No, this isn't where we plan to live.  It's an old abandoned homestead somewhere in New Mexico along I40

And these next few pictures are coming out of Quameda, NM

By the evening of the 10th, he finds himself actually entering  into Springerville, AZ

After getting some rest, he managed to drive around and take some pictures so you can see where it is we're moving

On to greener pastures as they say

We'll have more for you later!

-Lisa & Joey